Sewage Spill Triggers Closure of Cleo Street Beach for Several Days

A sewage spill has caused Cleo Street Beach in Laguna Beach to be closed for the next few days, police and health officials said Saturday.

“The health people are saying the beach will be closed until around Wednesday,” said Police Sgt. Ray Lardie, adding that other than inconvenience to swimmers and sunbathers wanting to use that stretch of beach, no problem exists. Lardie said the sewage spill, which was near where Cleo Street joins Coast Highway, caused no property damage or injuries.

Lardie said the spill occurred Friday afternoon when electric power in the area had to be shut down because of a fallen power pole on Cleo Street. “We had to have the power shut down after the pole burned in half because of a short in one of the wires,” said Lardie.

“The loss of power caused the pumping station above Cleo Street to shut down, and then the sewage overflowed and went down to the ocean.”

Lardie said power was restored after about eight hours. “We had to close traffic on Coast Highway during the power outage, and we had gridlock Friday afternoon from about 4 to 6:30,” said Lardie.

The Cleo Street Beach is about seven blocks south of Main Beach in Laguna Beach. Lardie said that popular beach and all other beaches in the area remain open.